Reuters/Stefan Wermuth
Bank of England governor Mark Carney dips a new £5 note into a curry at a market in London to show the note is waterproof.
Bayer is proposing an increased offer and break fee as it tries to clinch the acquisition of Monsanto to create the world's biggest maker of seeds and pesticides, according to people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg reports that Bayer is willing to raise its offer to about $129 (£97.70) a share, or $56.5 billion (£42.8 billion), from $127.50 (£96.59) a share, and double the antitrust break fee to about $3 billion (£2.2 billion), said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
Takeda, Japan's largest pharmaceuticals group, is on the hunt for acquisitions in the US and has earmarked up to $15 billion (£11.3 billion) to spend on takeovers to boost its presence in the world's largest healthcare market, according to people briefed on the company's plans. The Financial Times reports that the drugmaker, Japan's biggest by market value, has told investors it wants to buy US companies developing drugs for cancer, gastrointestinal conditions, and diseases of the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer's, the people said.
Investors are reluctant to back Monte dei Paschi di Siena's bid to raise billions of euros, top fund managers and a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, posing a huge challenge for a new CEO seeking to save the Italian bank. The lender, which is expected to name a new chief executive on Wednesday, must raise up to €5 billion (£4.2 billion, $5.6 billion) as part of an emergency rescue plan to stave off the risk of being wound down and a wider banking crisis that would send shockwaves across Europe.
US stocks continued their volatile streak on Tuesday, selling off substantially throughout the day and giving back all of Monday's gains. All three major indexes fell substantially, ending the day near their lows. Tuesday marked the third straight day that the S&P 500 moved by 1% in either direction, after 43 straight days of not doing so.
Asian markets are lower on the back of the US's performance. China's benchmark Shanghai Composite index is down 0.46% at the time of writing (6.35 a.m. BST/1.35 a.m. ET), Japan's Nikkei is down 0.59%, but the Hong Kong Hang Seng is up 0.16%.
Unemployment and earnings data are coming. Figures for July and August are due at 9.30 a.m. BST (4.30 a.m. ET). Average wage growth including bonuses is forecast to drop from 2.4% to 2.1%, while economists expect the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 4.9%.
Porsche, the main shareholder of Volkswagen, is facing lawsuits from investors claiming the firm did not disclose the financial risks of VW's emissions scandal uncovered a year ago. A spokesman at Porsche SE said on Tuesday Frankfurt-based law firm Nieding + Barth had filed 12 lawsuits against the firm which controls 52.2% of VW's voting shares, while lawyer Andreas Tilp has submitted another three suits.
Saudi Arabia is once again the world's largest oil producer, surpassing the US, which had held the title since April 2014, according to the International Energy Agency's latest monthly report. The report estimates that Saudi Arabia's low-cost oil fields have pumped out an extra 400 kilobarrels a day since May.
Wells Fargo is facing a tidal wave of bad news. The US bank has a mounting series of problems stemming from the news that since 2011 employees had improperly opened accounts for customers.
America's newest stock exchange isn't finished shaking up the establishment. IEX, the trading firm famous for its efforts to undercut high-speed traders, just launched as an exchange after winning regulatory approval in July.